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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24129820">The King's Mistress</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/eiramrelyat/pseuds/eiramrelyat'>eiramrelyat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dark Fics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunger Games Series - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Dark Peeta Mellark, Eventual Romance, Everlark Fic Exchange 2020, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jealousy, King peeta, Mistress Katniss, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, dark themes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:41:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24129820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/eiramrelyat/pseuds/eiramrelyat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're a monster," she ground out.</p><p>He trailed his nose along the inner part of her thigh, rewarding her with a nip against her hip when her breath hitched. "And yet, you still want me."</p><p> </p><p>  <b>In which Katniss is a commoner, and Peeta is a cruel king that wants Katniss to be his mistress.</b></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dark Fics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2286236</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>166</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Everlark Fic Exchange - Springtime 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, this is broken up into two parts! So look out for part two in the near future:) Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katniss remembered being thirteen when she first saw the King of Panem. She stood with her mother and Prim in the town's square amongst the other townspeople, waiting for the King's Guard to step through the stone archway of the city wall. Fathers and sons, taken from their families to fight against a lost cause- unity with the southern kingdom.</p><p>No one rejoiced as the soldiers made their first appearance, their King leading the silent march with a reserved expression. </p><p>He was young for a king, barely seeing his twentieth birthday before being thrust into the role of a leader. Katniss overheard older girls in the market whisper how handsome the King was, and how he had yet to take a bride. But Katniss didn't grasp what they considered so attractive.  </p><p>His face already reflected the burden that came with running a kingdom. Hard lines creasing his forehead and black circles, casting a stark shadow on his fair skin. Many already detested him after six months of being under his rule, and some have attempted to escape. But there's a harsh penalty for those caught beyond the city wall. The King’s Guard flogged you in the town's square as a warning for anyone else that attempted to flee. Few survived the brutal punishment, and Katniss witnessed many die on the kitchen table as their mother struggled to mend their wounds.</p><p>The King moved further up the stone path, and more soldiers processed through the wall. Families reunited, the local blacksmith embracing his wife and two sons. A spoil, Katniss thought, to have sons only for them to be sent to military training camps at twelve. That was what happened to Gale. Katniss never had the chance to say goodbye.</p><p>Bringing girls into the world was less troubling, to some degree. They didn’t meet death with an early grave. Instead, women had arranged marriages at nineteen. If a man didn't ask for your hand, then the law dictated you to work in brothels or out beyond the safety of the wall to tend the fields. Any of those options sounded better than dying, Katniss considered naively.</p><p>She'd later understand the negligible difference that stood between dying and having your life in the grip of another.</p><p>Katniss's keen eyes studied all the faces of the men walking on the path, none of them Papa. She felt her mother's purchase on her shoulder tighten as wagons towed by a pair of sturdy men came through the archway. Thin cotton sheets blanketed large burlap sacks stacked high. </p><p>The shoemaker's wife was the first to wail out in anguish, flailing against the King's Guard that kept her from moving toward the carts that were being set on fire.</p><p>"Come on, girls, we should prepare supper." Their mother turned them away from the scene in front of them, dismissing Prim's questions about Papa.</p><p>That night, Katniss laid in her shared bed with Prim, whispering soothingly in Prim's ear after her sister tore awake from a nightmare. </p><p>"It's okay, Prim. You're okay. You're okay." Her sister whimpered, sniffling away her tears. "<em> Shh, </em>you're okay." </p><p>The moon cast a glow through their small window, draping a curtain of white light over their bed. In the stuffy calm of the room, it blanketed them with quiet comfort, easing away the grief they were all feeling. Katniss rubbed Prim's back drowsily until the girl's shoulders relaxed, her breathing regulating back into deep even patterns. </p><p>From the other side of the room, where their mother slept, Katniss caught the faint sounds of her mother sniffling before she choked sobs into her pillow.</p><p>That day was the last day Katniss saw any response from their mother. That day, Katniss decided that she hated their King for ruining her family.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"Hurry up, Prim," Katniss whispered gratingly.</p><p>Katniss gripped Prim's hand tightly in her own, their palms slick from the light downpour. They kept their heads low, hidden beneath the hoods of their cloaks as they stepped past the iron gates to the King's palace. </p><p>It was late, and Katniss didn't want to risk being noticed by any of the King's Guards patrolling the streets.</p><p>Her nineteenth birthday was a month ago, and she kept a low profile for this long. Part of her worried about what would happen to Prim if she left to work in a brothel or ended up locked outside the city walls as a working hand for the crops. Katniss had heard hearsay of boys around town commenting on how '<em> well </em>' the youngest Everdeen had matured. Prim turned fifteen earlier that year, and Katniss would fight off any boy before she'd let them touch her sister.</p><p>Their mother wasn't any help. Most days, she sat in a lifeless state on her bed, hardly eating. Katniss helped her, even though she resented her mother for giving up on her and Prim. She only ever moved to tend the sick or injured that came knocking at their door, the local wise-woman some called her. But the number of patients they saw dwindled after the last war. Eventually, Katniss had to find a new means of making coins for their family and pulled out her father's bow and quiver hidden under the floorboards in the kitchen. </p><p>Nobody seemed to question how the Everdeen women made their keep through the years, and Katniss wanted it to remain that way.</p><p>The only person who knew was the butcher and his two sons. He never interrogated how she bypassed the guards that patrolled the wall walk. But Katniss found a hole in the slowly deteriorating structure near the North gate. An overgrown bush camouflaged the wall's impurity, keeping Katniss's secret hidden from careful eyes.</p><p>Thankfully, the butcher never confessed to his nosey wife that Katniss poached to put food on the table. Katniss would be dead, and the King would send her mother and Prim off to tend the fields. Or worse, they'd be another example for the townspeople on why you shouldn't defy the rules. Already, Katniss was putting her family's lives at risk for living in hiding as a woman at nineteen.</p><p>Rough voices sounded from the other side of the palace gate, and Katniss pulled Prim to hide in the shadows. Suddenly, the wet hinges on the gate screeched as one of the King's Guard pushed it open, causing Prim to jump and grip Katniss's arm. A small woman, with a dress torn to shreds, was tossed out of the opening. She landed on her hands and knees in a pile of mud, and a sob shook her frail frame. </p><p>"Get out of here," the King's Guard sneered, before disappearing and securing the gate once more.</p><p>Katniss didn't notice Prim step out of their hiding spot, until she was out of arm's reach, steadily moving toward the woman.</p><p>"Primrose," Katniss said loud enough for her sister to hear. "Get back here."</p><p>But Prim ignored her. Katniss sighed and cautiously looked around before following Prim.</p><p>The woman sobbed into her hands, and as they drew closer, Katniss identified her as the shoemaker's widow, Viola Cartwright. She remembered the blacksmith's wife gossiping about Viola losing the store with her being a woman, and no man wanted to marry a widow, leaving her homeless. Katniss overheard that poor women often sought the King's Guard because they paid handsomely, but Katniss never believed it was true. Until now, that is.</p><p>Viola's face, swollen, and purple momentarily stunned Katniss. She noticed dry blood caked her hairline, matting her hair to her forehead. Vomit colored the front of her dress in streaks... Katniss instantly felt sick to her stomach as she understood what occurred to the woman, and she startlingly felt very light-headed. </p><p>"Katniss," Prim muttered. "She needs help. We need to bring her to mother." Katniss didn't react, her feet stuck. Prim shook her shoulder. "Katniss, we have little time."</p><p>This brought Katniss out of her daze, and she responded slowly. "Okay." She looked back down at the woman in front of them, a mix of anger and disgust pressing her. "Okay," she answered more firmly.</p><p>They swept down and carefully lifted Viola off the ground. She cried, and fresh tears fell from her bloodshot eyes.</p><p>"Hurry, Katniss. And be gentle, we don't want to risk hurting her."</p><p>Katniss held her breath as the acidic smell of vomit met her nose, and they hurried down the short alley between the bakery and butcher shop that led to their house. </p><p>Prim pushed open their front door. "On the table." Her sister moved plates out of the way, and Katniss carefully helped Viola onto the table. "I'll wake up, mother." Prim bustled out of the room, and Katniss started pulling out rags and filling bowls with water. She didn't know what else to do.</p><p>Their mother came into the room a few seconds later; her eyes alert as she switched into healer mode from the sight of Viola on their kitchen table. She set her hand on Katniss's shoulder as she walked by, her way of letting Katniss know that she could leave. Katniss nodded curtly and recovered her game bag from the crack between the hearth and the wall. Then she pulled open the front door and snuck back into the night.</p><p>The north gate wasn't far, but the time it required to get there was longer as there wasn't a shortcut that kept her hidden from late-night dwellers. Katniss tucked the worn burlap of her gamebag into her breeches as she made it to the large bush. She bent down and reached under the pile of brush where she kept her father's bow and quiver, her hand searching in the dark, but all she found was leaves. In the grip of silent panic, heart racing, Katniss reached under the brush again. Nothing. </p><p>She left it right here, didn't she? Her hands scoured the small area, small sticks getting caught in her braid as she reached beyond the pile of leaves. Still nothing. They were gone, that meant someone found out about the hole and took the last thing she owned of her fathers...</p><p>"There she is," Katniss heard from behind her, but she didn't have time to react before something blunt connected to the base of her skull, and she fell forward into a black abyss.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There were voices, many of them, spinning around in her head at once. But one overpowered the others.</p><p>"I said, move!"</p><p>A hand shoved her forward, pulling her back into awareness. With nothing to grab on to, she stumbled, nearly falling to her knees. She blinked, trying to navigate her surroundings in the ill-lit room. Where was she? Black dots clouded her vision, but she distinctly made out the back of a King's Guard uniform, the polished metal glinting in the candlelight. Fright consumed every cell in her body, swelling with terror as they led her down a dank corridor. </p><p>She was in the castle; she had to be.</p><p>They stopped at a thick iron door, and the King's Guard in front of her pulled it open, poorly oiled hinges squealing from the effort. Another shove pushed Katniss inside; this time, she fell to the icy stone floor, scraping her palms on the rocks there. She winced as she strained against the chains around her wrists and ankles to catch herself, the cold metal rubbing her skin hot to the point of pain.</p><p>"Try nothing, and I won't slit your throat." Then she heard the door latch shut, closing out any light from the room.</p><p>Her mind raced. Did they know who she was? What would happen to Prim... and her mother? Katniss couldn't recall speaking to anyone apart from the butcher. He was the only one outside her family that knew her secret. Could he have turned her in?</p><p>Katniss scuffled into the corner of the room near a window, the heavy chains dragging behind her. Despite the guard's warning, Katniss looked down at the shackles and tried pulling her hands free. But as she tugged on the restraints, it became glaringly apparent that she wasn't getting free without a key. Her eyes considered the room for something she could use to pick the lock, but the place was empty, aside from a small drain grate in the middle of the floor that was the size of a rat.</p><p>Defeat bubbled in the back of her throat and burned behind closed eyelids as she pulled her knees to her chest. She'd told herself countless times to move her gear, or alternate the days she went hunting. But she pushed it off for too long, overlooking the warnings that swirled in the crevices of her mind. Now she put the only person she really held dear to her heart in jeopardy. </p><p>The sound of the door latch unlocking caused Katniss's eyes to snap open, her heart hammering as someone fiddled with the lock on the other side of the door. A second later, it's forced open, allowing light to filter through that hit the wall near her head. Two guards step into the room, followed by a full silhouette illuminated by the candles flickering in the hall. He stepped closer, and Katniss felt bile stick to the back of her throat when she noticed the whip that dangled from his hands.</p><p>"Get up," he directed, his voice grating as if he were asleep only moments before.</p><p>Katniss tried to stand from her position on the floor, but the heavy shackles made it difficult for her fatigued limbs.</p><p>"I said, get up!" </p><p>He stepped forward, grabbing her chain to yank her to her feet, then Katniss was peering into the face of her childhood friend. Gale stared at her, unblinking, and the hard expression on his face dissolved, replaced by a mix of emotions.</p><p>"Warden?"</p><p>This appeared to spring him back, and Gale turned toward the guards, remembering that they weren't alone in the room. "Leave us." One guard looked at Katniss, pale eyes glued to the tear in her raddled pants toward the top of her thigh. A slow smile pulled at his mouth, sending a series of chills down her spine, then he turned out the door, closing it roughly behind him.</p><p>When she and Gale were alone, he dropped the front, but he didn't offer her a smile or a warm hug. After seven years of being divided by the corrupt laws that ran Panem, their reunion wasn't a festive one. Instead, he paced the short expanse of the room, his eyes glaring at the floor beneath his boots.</p><p>Katniss had so many questions, the first being why he never wrote of his return to Panem after training. She wrote him several letters over the years, without a single response in return.</p><p>"Gale-" she began, but he cut her off before she could finish.</p><p>"Damn it, Katniss!" He stopped in front of her, the muscles in his neck twitching. Katniss shrunk back from his unexpected outburst, she couldn't remember Gale ever lashing out at her. "Don't you understand the number of laws you broke?" He tightened his grip around the whip, the object looming like a weight between them. "What were you thinking?"</p><p>Katniss gaped at him. How could he berate her when he knew the hardships they faced as kids to survive? Anger bloomed in her chest, and she glared at him. "You don't know what it's like out there," she hissed. "I did what I did to take care of my family!"</p><p>Gale gripped her shoulders firmly, his slate grey eyes penetrating hers. "Poaching is punishable by death, Katniss. There's no way for me to get you out of this!"</p><p>She shook off his hold of her. "So, what, are you going to kill me?"</p><p>With his jaw set, he stared at her with pleading eyes. "This is my duty, Katniss. I'm the warden." A loud knock on the wooden door pulled Gale away, and his lips tightened when the two guards came back into the room.</p><p>"The King is waiting, sir," one of them said hesitantly. Gale nodded, and without looking at Katniss, he stepped out of the room as one guard pulled Katniss by her chains to follow.</p><p>She stared at Gale's back as they led her down the corridor and into a new hallway, the whip he was holding now dangling from his belt. Katniss wondered how many people he had used it on and if she would be another bit of spilled blood to add to the tarnished leather. She didn't recognize this version of Gale. Where was her friend that played with her near the courtyard as kids? Her friend who joined her family for meals, who laughed at her jokes?</p><p>Or maybe it was just that. Katniss and Gale weren't kids anymore.</p><p>She was led down a series of corridors until they're at a large stone archway that leads into a long room. Columns and statues of past kings and queens lined the walls, leading up to a simple throne where the King sat at the head of the hall, contrasting with the more intricate features of the room.</p><p>There was a dangerous air that surrounded him, engulfing the room in calculated conversations. Voices were indistinct, and Katniss could tell they were afraid to speak out of turn.</p><p>As they drew closer, she felt the King's eyes follow her, and she tilted her chin to meet his gaze head-on. Gale was the first to kneel for the King, and the guards pushed Katniss's shoulders to bring her to her knees. After a moment, the King nodded, and they stood up, leaving Katniss on the floor.</p><p>The King was the first to speak. "I thought you said this was the crime of a woman." Katniss could hear the mockery in his voice, and she felt humiliated when she caught the chuckles that circled around the room toward her father's old breeches that she wore. Her cheeks burned, but she never faltered.</p><p>He rose from the throne, and everyone grew quiet as he descended the few steps toward Katniss. He crouched down to her eye level and roughly gripped her chin between his calloused thumb and finger. Katniss twisted her mouth in defiance and tried to pull her face away, but his fingers held her fast.</p><p>The longer he studied her, the more self-aware she became under his piercing blue eyes. Up close, Katniss hardly recognized the King compared to the mental image burned into her memory from years ago. </p><p>His face no longer carried the effect of war, yet a hardness remained there, hidden under a smooth exterior. Blonde curls caressed his forehead from underneath the gold crown on his head, creating a halo of ringlets. Katniss chastised herself for accepting it, but the King was handsome.</p><p>The King dropped her chin and rose to his full height. "Bring her to my chambers," he ordered the guards before he turned to ascend his throne once more.</p><p>Katniss's throat constricted. She tugged on the chains as she was dragged away from the King. Gale couldn't even look her way as she was pulled from the throne room and out of view.</p><p>The guards haul her through the castle until they arrive at a unique set of double doors, the royal crest embedded into the reddish wood. One of them began unlocking the shackles bounding her limbs before they seized her wrists and tossed her inside the room. They closed the door with a resounding <em>thunk, </em>and Katniss heard the tick of the lock as they secured the door. She clambered to her feet, now faster without the restraints, and tugged on the handle uselessly.</p><p>"Let me out!"</p><p>Silence met her ears from the other side, and she beat the door with her fists. She felt hot tears marking her face as she took out all of her desperation against that door until she was tired and slumped to the stone floor. Katniss cupped her face in her hands, dry sobs tearing through her, as she awaited her fate.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>She sat there for who knows how long before she heard a rustling noise outside the bedroom door. The door opened, filling the room with an orange glow, and Katniss lay unmoving, even as her stiff muscles screamed for relief from the stone floor. What Katniss didn't expect was the sound of heels clicking into the room, the sound seeming an inkling more comforting than the heavy footfalls her ears grew accustomed to. Yet, she reminded herself that she wasn't safe as long as she was in the castle.</p><p>They came closer, and Katniss started from the small hand that touched her shoulder. She rolled over and stared at an adolescent girl that might have been a year younger than Prim.</p><p>"I'm sorry mistress, I didn't mean to startle you!" The girl twisted the apron in her hands. "I was sent to assist you."</p><p>Katniss swallowed her apprehension and nodded her head. "O-okay."</p><p>The young chambermaid helped her to her feet and reached for the front buttons on Katniss's shirt. Katniss jumped and recoiled from the girl's hands, tightening her cloak around herself.</p><p>"What are you doing?"</p><p>She looked up at Katniss with frightful doe eyes, "I-I'm sorry. We need to wash your clothes, mistress."</p><p>Katniss's grip loosened, but she didn't allow the girl to offer her further aid in undressing. She peeled off her clothes, tossing them into the worn wicker near the maid's feet, then she stood in the middle of the room, as naked as the day she was born. Thankfully, the maid respected her privacy and turned away while Katniss washed with the basin set on the floor.</p><p>She hung a robe over one chair, then the maid gathered the dirty basin and wicker, before hurrying out of the room.</p><p>Katniss wrapped the robe tightly around herself, allowing her fingers to run along the strings as she fastened it at her waist. Her heart was racing as she paced the rug near the hearth. She should have run for it when the maid opened the door, what was she thinking?</p><p>She was about to sit on the bed as the doors to the room opened. Katniss froze as the King emerged from the opening, his gold crown now absent from his head. He disregarded her and moved toward the hulking chair in front of the hearth, kicking his boots off once he was comfortable.</p><p>Her feet rooted her to the carpet for a second, uncertainty washing over her. Katniss wondered if he expected her to go to him. Without urgency, Katniss moved from her spot near the bed, until her bare toes rested an inch away from the King's.</p><p>He looked up at her, then, intrigued.</p><p>With shaky fingers, Katniss reached for the tie at her waist and clumsily untangled it until the robe rested loosely on her shoulders. His eyes immediately centered on the sliver of exposed skin between the valley of her breasts, and he beckoned her closer with a finger, bringing her between his parted knees. Strong hands floated over the material at her thighs, sending a shiver down Katniss's spine. Katniss couldn't tell if it was from fear or the unexpected feeling that brought liquid heat to her belly from having a man's hands grope her.</p><p>His eyes never left her face as he brought his hands up to the opening of her robe. He smirked when she jumped from the contact of his palms against her skin. The pads of his thumbs traced patterns into her midsection before he leaned forward and pushed the material of the robe open with his nose. His moist mouth now in line with her navel.</p><p>Another shudder coursed through her.</p><p>"Tell me, sweetheart, have you ever laid with a man?" His deep voice vibrated against her skin, making her muscles spasm. She felt mildly embarrassed to admit that a man has never touched her before, especially to the man that held her life in his grasp. "Answer me," he demanded.</p><p>"No. I haven't," Katniss gritted out.</p><p>A slow smile burned into her skin, and he nipped the spot above her belly button. "Good."</p><p>The King freed her trembling shoulders from the robe as his mouth nipped and licked her, the delicate silk falling into a milky pile at her feet. Her body folded in on itself when she was unprotected by his judgment of her flat frame, and she brought her hands up to shield her breasts from his eyes.</p><p>But he pulled away from her, and the look he gave her made her begrudgingly bring her hands back to her sides. Two hands gripped Katniss's hips and he jerked her forward, maneuvering her body onto his lap, so her thighs rested on either side of his. This left Katniss with no other choice than to grip his broad shoulders for support.</p><p>She tensed when the new proximity flushed their lower halves together, the growing bulge in his breeches pressing between the apex of her thighs. It sent an unfamiliar heat toward the base of her spine. The King didn't allow her to hesitate, as one of his hands wrapped in her hair, pulling Katniss's mouth down to his.</p><p>Katniss pushed against his chest, and he answered by swiping his tongue along her lower lip. Her lips remained sealed until he tugged on her hair, causing her to gasp. He took this opportunity to search her mouth with his tongue, licking anything the strong muscle could reach. She moaned in disapproval and bit his lip, the taste of blood immediately hitting her tastebuds.</p><p>The King tore away and touched the cut on his lower lip from her teeth. He was breathing hard, blonde ringlets covering his forehead, and a threatening look fell on his features. In an instant, he pushed Katniss from his lap, and she stumbled backward to find her footing.</p><p>He stood up and started tugging on the belt around his waist. Katniss's eyes rounded with trepidation. "Get on the bed," he ordered as he hastily removed his breeches, keeping his shirt on.</p><p>Katniss swallowed and did as he said, shakily climbing onto the mattress and staring vacantly up at the canopy around the bed. But he grabbed her by the hips and flipped her around, forcing her onto her hands and knees. She wanted to clamp her legs shut as he roughly pushed them open with his hands, her feet hanging off the bed.</p><p>Her heart raced, and her arms shook as she waited for what came next.</p><p>She jerked when she felt the King's thick fingers ghost through her folds, and she groaned unexpectedly when he pressed the pad of his finger against a bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs. Katniss cursed her body for responding to his touch so voluntarily.</p><p>His fingers swiped against the nerves, each pass sending white light behind her closed eyelids. She was so lost in the feeling of his fingers, that she didn't notice when he lined his cock at her entrance and pushed forward. Katniss gasped, forgetting the slight amount of pleasure she felt as he broke her natural barrier.</p><p>"Fuck," he breathed, and he stayed still for a moment, his fingers continuing to move between her thighs. He didn't wait for her confirmation before he started thrusting into her.</p><p>Katniss felt a different feeling low in her stomach behind the pain that still clung to her core. She tried to grapple onto the unknown sensation as he picked up his thrusts. She moaned into the mattress as she felt the tip of his cock brush against a spot deep inside her, her walls clenching. He set a brutalizing pace, his pelvis slapping against the back of her thighs, both of his hands now grasping her hips. With every powerful thrust, Katniss felt her knees slide against sheets, pressing her further into the mattress.</p><p>"Touch yourself."</p><p>Hesitantly, Katniss reached between her legs, searching for the spot he touched only moments before. She swiped it once, the liquid white heat returned, and she gasped against her fist that held on for dear life.</p><p>"That's it," he growled.</p><p>He gave two more thrusts before he pulled out, and Katniss felt something warm coat her lower back. She heard him release a guttural moan before he leaned forward to rest his forehead against her spine. One of his hands still gripped her hip as the other rested against the mattress near her head.</p><p>They stayed like that until he caught his breath, then he pulled away.</p><p>He cleaned himself off before handing Katniss the soiled cloth to wipe her back. Then he pulled back the sheets and climbed into the bed as Katniss wiped away the sticky mess that clung to her skin. He turned away from her, not sparing her a look. Katniss stood there near the bed, slightly shaken from what she just did. Her stomach churning from the aftershock.</p><p>With a shuddering breath, she walked around the bed and gently pulled open the sheets. She pulled them up to her neck as she crawled under the covers, and she blankly stared into the darkness of the room, as she listened to the King's even breathing.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The next morning, Katniss woke up to an empty bed, crisp sheets returned to their neat state, seeming unscathed. If it wasn't for her extravagant surroundings, Katniss would have considered last night to be nothing more than a nightmare. Still, the dull ache that throbbed between her legs and the damp remnants from the night before, clinging to her thighs, were hard to ignore.</p><p>Katniss peeled back the sheets, recoiling from the sight of blood that she found there. She'd overheard mother help youthful wives after the consummation of their marriage, assuaging their worries in the middle of their kitchen. Katniss knew what the blood represented, she wasn't naïve, yet it surprised her it was hers.</p><p>She released a shaky breath, and rolled out of bed, gripping the soiled sheet to her chest. Katniss looked around the vast room that was larger than her house, fabrics of maroon and navy colored the furniture, and gold details littered the ceiling. Prim would have been in awe, she thought.</p><p>A small pocket door pulled open in the room's corner, startled Katniss, and she froze, expecting it to be the King. Instead, the chambermaid from last night came into the room, followed by three older women.</p><p>Katniss held the sheet closer to her chest, feeling unarmed in her current state of undress, especially in front of the young chambermaid that wouldn't look her way. She could hardly fathom what they thought of her, another whore to pass the King's time.</p><p>The two older chambermaids walked up to Katniss while the other two tugged on the bedclothes near the foot of the bed.</p><p>A maid with bright red hair gently pulled the sheet from Katniss's death grip and spoke in a soothing voice. Katniss noted her foreign English accent. "It's time to get ready for breakfast, mistress. If you're lucky, there will at least be porridge left on the table." Then she helped Katniss from the bed. Katniss winced when it aggravated the pain brewing between her legs, but the maid's hand steadied her. "It's all right. It'll pass with time." Katniss wondered how many women they had witnessed in the same predicament, or if they have been a victim.</p><p>She wrapped her arms around her nude frame. Even though the chambermaids didn't pay her any attention, she felt exposed and offered herself an inkling of modesty.</p><p>"Where are my clothes?"</p><p>"Ah, those tattered things are being washed," the auburn-haired woman said. "Not to worry, we have something more, er, womanly for ye to wear for the King himself." Katniss scowled.</p><p>A small washing tub was placed in the middle of the floor, then it's filled with steaming water from a wooden bucket before one maid grabbed Katniss's hand and helped her step inside. Another bucket draped frigid water over Katniss's head, and she released a shriek in surprise.</p><p>"I apologize, mistress. These would have been warmer hours ago, but ye were sleeping."</p><p>They quickly washed and dried her, then they threw a clean shift over her head. She was tugged and prodded on until she was dressed in a pastel blue gown, and her hair was neatly fixed in a high bun atop her head. Katniss felt the beginning of a headache from the many pins poking her scalp to keep her hair in place.</p><p>"You look lovely," the maid with red hair told her, but Katniss didn't bother looking at her reflection in the mirror. It didn't matter how she looked.</p><p>She was escorted down to the great hall, by the two King's Guards that waited outside the bedroom door. The room was alive with chatter and laughter, nothing compared to the reserved atmosphere in the throne room. At the head of the hall sat the King. He had his hands folded in front of him as he observed his guests. Next to him sat a man with long unkempt blonde hair, a permanent scowl cresting his features. He talked avidly in the King's ear, while the King blatantly ignored him. An advisor, Katniss figured. The King’s blue eyes caught sight of her as she entered the room, but it's a cursory look, and he turned his attention back to the table.</p><p>They brought Katniss to a chair that sat next to the King and pulled it out for her. Katniss stared down at it grudgingly, growing attention for herself.</p><p>"Would you prefer a different chair," asked one servant, then Katniss sensed the reproachful stare sent her way from a pair of blue eyes.</p><p>She shook her head, "no, this is fine, thank you."</p><p>Her eyes surveyed the selection of food on the table, her mouth-watering from the sight. Katniss swallowed the urge to stack her plate and reached for a lone roll from one of the many platters. But a servant covered her plate with fruit and cooked potatoes.</p><p>"Eat," the King ordered, not looking at her.</p><p>There were some hushed whispers from the scene she caused, and Katniss slowly picked up one of her forks, piercing a diced melon on her plate. Their house only had five utensils that their mother kept tucked away in a drawer she didn't use for patients. Out of the five, they used only three for eating. She knew she probably wasn't using the proper fork, but no one slapped her on the wrist to tell her otherwise. So she figured it was okay, or they didn't care enough to correct her.</p><p>Eventually, the people at the table forgot about her attendance and continued onward with their crowded conversations.</p><p>She picked at her plate quietly as she listened to the old man near the King grumble.</p><p>"I told you it was foolish to invite her to breakfast." The King grunted in return, and it wasn't clear if he agreed with him or not. "How are you going to find a bride when they see your whore sitting at your side," the man continued. Katniss sensed the King freeze; that was when Katniss strived to tune out their voices.</p><p>After the sixth insult from the King's advisor, Katniss finally lost her appetite. She chewed on her roll until it became a concrete wad in her mouth, forcing her to swallow it down with a glass of wine. Then she pushed away from the table, yet a hand on her knee halted her.</p><p>"You will not leave until I tell you to do so," the King said unwaveringly, his eyes fixed on the cooked potatoes and sausage in front of him.</p><p>Katniss wanted to shove his hand from her knee, but she knew better. She sniffed defiantly and stabbed a potato on her plate, biting back a retort, and she sat quietly for the rest of the meal.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After the King dismissed her from the table, Katniss didn't see him for the rest of the day. The same guards escorted her back to the King's chambers, before leaving her to herself.</p><p>She spent that alone time staring out the tall balcony window toward the courtyard below. She remained there for hours, doing by the protests of her sore feet. Katniss quietly planned her escape as she stared out that window, counting the number of guards that patrolled the area, or when they rotated. But the castle itself was more heavily guarded compared to the town outside its gates. An escape deemed itself impossible.</p><p>Katniss wandered away from the window after some time, noticing a worn book sitting atop a chest of drawers near the bed. The pages crumpled at the edges from overuse and the initials <em>P. M. </em>marked the binding. Curious, Katniss reached for it, but the doors to the room pushed open abruptly, seizing her movements.</p><p>She spun around to find the King stumbling into the room, his footing sloppy, and he slightly teetered. Katniss instantly noticed splatters of blood on his armor; fresh and translucent as the flames from the hearth reflected off the droplets running slowly down his breastplate. She felt her hands tremble at her sides; she wondered whose blood it was- if it was someone she knew.</p><p>He ignored her and stumbled toward the mantle, reaching for a bottle of wine that sat there. He didn't pour himself a glass. Instead, he throws back one long gulp of the darkened liquid before sending the empty bottle into the hearth. The delicate glass shattered on impact, and the flames grew, fueled by the alcohol that now stained its walls.</p><p>Katniss watched as he loosened the belt around his waist, before throwing it on his chair with a heavy <em>plunk</em>. Then he placed his hands against the mantle, staring blankly into the flames below.</p><p>He pushed back a few curly strands that rested against his forehead, only to have them fall back into his eyes. Katniss wasn't sure what to do, her heart palpitating painfully in her chest. She feared his anger would strive toward her if she said anything, so she stayed quiet. But he veered his head, then, and guarded Katniss against the other side of the room.</p><p>"Come here," he demanded.</p><p>Katniss hesitantly moved from her spot near the corner of the room, her knees wobbling, making her trip on the thick rug beneath her feet. The King released an impatient sigh and grabbed her wrist to pull her the rest of the way. Her heart thudded when she was merely a breath apart from him, the smell of blood and alcohol pungent, causing her stomach to stir. He was drunk, and this made him more dangerous.</p><p>"Undress me." He released her wrist and waited for her to follow his instructions, his blue eyes staring through her.</p><p>Anger brewed underneath her fear, exhausted against his constant demands, and her hands balled into fists at her sides. "N-no," she faltered. "No. I'm not your puppet."</p><p>The corners of his mouth curled dangerously. "So, the street whore has a backbone." He tugged the black gloves from his hands.</p><p>Katniss set her jaw at his taunts. "You know <em>nothing </em>about me. How can you belittle me when I've witnessed countless people die under your reign?" She waited for him to kill her, where she stood.</p><p>In a split second, he shoved all the liquor off of the mantle, prompting Katniss to jump. Glass littered the floor at their feet, glistening bright red from the wine. His chest heaved as he looked down at the mess, then he turned on his heel and stormed toward the door, leaving a shaken Katniss behind.</p><p>She took a ragged breath, and moved away from the broken glass, refusing to clean the mess that he created. In a daze, she wandered over to the bed, but an object reflecting from the corner of her eye made her turn her head. There, on his chair, laid his dagger still attached to his belt.</p><p>Katniss immediately snatched it and tucked it away underneath the bed where the chambermaids wouldn't find it.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Two weeks go by, since that night. And each night was the same. Katniss laid in bed until the King came into the room, and he used her body until he collapsed in a sweaty pile against the silk sheets. Then he'd clean himself off and roll over to fall asleep. Neither of them talked, and Katniss did her best to avoid him when they weren't fucking. </p><p>Gradually, she ran on autopilot and went with the motions from day to day, unsure of one day to the next.</p><p>But today differed from the others. Everyone in the castle gathered down in the courtyard, and Katniss followed the guards in front of her aimlessly, ignoring the few stray stares she received from noblewomen. She wandered over to the end of the courtyard where the young chambermaid stood, the girl offering Katniss a polite smile which Katniss returned. </p><p>A clergy stood in the space in the courtyard, a roll of parchment gripped between two brittle hands. Katniss missed the beginning of the proceedings and turned toward the young chambermaid.</p><p>"What is going on," Katniss whispered.</p><p>The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked at the two guards next to Katniss, before answering quickly, "a warden is being punished for disobeying our King."</p><p>That was when a topless man with a sack over his head came into view, the King trailing after them, a whip dangling from his hands. Guards tied the man to a wooden post mounted in the center, his back facing toward the crowd.</p><p>"... Twenty lashes." </p><p>Katniss looked away as the whip in the King's hand raised and connected to flesh in one fluid motion, the sound echoing against the stone pillars. A cry tore through the masked man as he took lash after lash until the sack on his head fell off from him, thrashing against his restraints. It only took Katniss a second to apprehend who it was, and her eyes swelled in horror.</p><p>"No," she yelled as another lash connected with Gale's bared back, breaking through the skin this time. Blood dripped down his olive skin in rivulets.</p><p>The King raised his hand again for another blow, and Katniss ran out into the courtyard to stop him. A string of gasps from the crowd following her. "Stop!" But the King didn't hear her in time before the whip connected with the top of her cheek. She cried out in pain, feeling the very ends of the leather break open the skin, and she cupped her face, her vision now spotted.</p><p>"What is she doing here," the King barked to one of the guards. "Get her out of here!" Then they dragged her away, locking her back up in the King's chambers. Chambermaids come in moments later and tend to the wound that festered on her cheek.</p><p>Later that night, Katniss grabbed the dagger she hid under the bed and tucked it against her side. After they retired for the night, Katniss squeezed the handle in her hands, her fingers trembling with the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She watched the King's back move in time with his even breathing. <em>Up. Down. Up. Down</em>. Katniss lifted the heavy dagger, ready to finally attain her freedom, but she faltered the longer she stared at him. Sweat covered her brow. <em>Do it </em>.</p><p>"What's stopping you, sweetheart?"</p><p>She started. The dagger fell from her hand and clattered to the stone floor, reverberating loudly throughout the quiet room. The King turned to face her, poised eyes rooting her to the mattress.</p><p>"What's stopping you," he urged again. Katniss shifted to get up from the bed, but he roughly grabbed her wrists, hindering her escape. "I flogged your friend, I could have killed him. I hit you today. Why not get your revenge?"</p><p>Katniss attempted to pull her hands free, already feeling bitter tears prick the corner of her eyes. "Let me go!" </p><p>"Answer me."</p><p>She didn't and proceeded to hit him with her free hand, but he bound it against his chest with the other. "I hate you!" She spewed insults at him and tried kicking him with her legs. He wrestled her fighting limbs until he had her pinned to the bed with his body between her legs, her wrists caught in his giant hand above her head.</p><p>"Answer me," his voice was now sharp.</p><p>To evade his stare, she turned her face into her arm, and she cursed the first couple of tears that fell. "If I killed you, then there would be nothing to set me apart from you."</p><p>He was quiet for a second, the only sound being his steady breathing. After a moment, his voice breaks the silence in the room, deep and unyielding. "You intervened with the King's Court today, and it didn't go unseen..." He paused. "There are rules we must follow to keep order in the kingdom. I do what is asked of me as a king, as a <em>leader </em>to my people. I can't allow laws to be broken and disregarded."</p><p>Katniss felt his cock twitch against her thigh, and she waited for him to use her body, her eyes tightly closed. Yet... he didn't. She tensed when she felt his lips ghost the top of her cheek, where the cut already scabbed over, before rolling over to his side of the bed. It was so soft Katniss wasn't sure that it happened at all. Moments later, Katniss heard the soft snores that left his mouth.</p><p>Hours passed, and Katniss laid there, stock still, her mind restless. She couldn't make sense of what transpired, and she finally grew exhausted around sunrise as the King rose and left the room.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Katniss was no longer allowed to leave the King's chamber after the incident with Gale. She was brought two meals every day that she hardly touched, slowly she felt her snug clothes lose their grip on her slender figure from her decreased appetite. The chambermaids never commented on her change in weight as they helped her dress for the day. And frequently, they were in and out of the room in less than half an hour.</p><p>Eventually, the King had other matters he needed to attend to and left unexpectedly one morning before Katniss rose. During his absence, Katniss found herself mildly relaxed without his presence hovering in the room. As a mistress, she wasn't allowed to inquire about matters that didn't concern her. Still, she wouldn't have questioned his absence, regardless.</p><p>Throughout the day, Katniss would read the few books strategically placed around the room. And at night, Katniss rested near the hearth and stared vacantly into the flames that licked and burned everything in its path. As lonely as she became, she wasn't entirely alone.</p><p>The young chambermaid came every morning to change the linens, and every evening to pour boiling water into the large metal tub. Katniss slept in the chair near the hearth and stuck to the metal basin to wash up at night, so she deemed it futile for the girl to come twice a day.</p><p>One day, Katniss took it upon herself to talk to the chambermaid as the girl busied herself around the room, cleaning nonexistent dust from surfaces.</p><p>"You can talk to me, you know," Katniss said into her book, but she directed her words toward the youthful girl across the room.</p><p>For a second, she didn't answer, yet the quiet shuffling against the floor came to a halt. "Thank you, mistress," she heard her mumble.</p><p>Katniss moved the book from her face to stare at the girl across the room. She twisted a dirty rag between her hands, avoiding Katniss. Katniss hesitated at first, before saying, "you can call me Katniss. I'd prefer it, actually." She hadn't heard someone call her by her own name in weeks, and she realized it was bothering her.</p><p>The girl wavered Katniss's request, "I shouldn't, I don't think my King-" Katniss cut her off.</p><p>"It'll be our secret." The girl noticeably eased at this but wound the dirty rag between her hands. "It's okay, he's not here. When it's you and me, you can call me Katniss."</p><p>She set the rag down on the table she was dusting. "Uh, my name is Rue."</p><p>Katniss nodded, saying Rue's name back to herself in her head. "Like the plant."</p><p>Rue's eyebrows lifted. "How did you know?"</p><p>Katniss looked down at the book in her hands, unable to bask in the fact that she remembered one thing from her mother's plant books. "My mother is a wise-woman. She studies plants and their healing properties."</p><p>"My mother never taught me how to read," Rue's cheeks grew a shade darker. It wasn't unheard of to have daughters that didn't know how to read, most women were forbidden to learn how to read or write. Instead, elders taught them how to be a mother and a proper wife. Katniss was lucky that her parents never followed this principle.</p><p>"I can teach you," Katniss suggested.</p><p>Rue gave a radiant smile, her enthusiasm reminding Katniss of Prim again. "Really?" Then her smile fell. "Wait, I shouldn't-"</p><p>"Our secret," Katniss said again. They shared a slight smile, and Katniss felt that she subsequently made a friend.</p><p>The next two days, Katniss and Rue sat on the couch near the hearth after Rue finished bustling around the room. Katniss taught Rue simple words and how to write her name before Rue retired to the servant's quarters for the night.</p><p>Katniss started to eat again, mainly when Rue came to the room for her daily lesson. She even offered her the salted meat and potatoes that she couldn't finish by herself. Rue declined, but Katniss insisted.</p><p>On the third night, she taught Rue how to write sentences, starting with short three-word sentences before adding the fourth word. Katniss wasn't the most helpful with teaching. Still, Rue never mentioned it and made everything easier by asking questions when she found a word challenging.</p><p>When they finished Rue's lesson, Katniss discarded the used parchment in the fire, destroying any evidence of their private sessions. But before Rue left for the night, Katniss had a question she wanted to ask ever since their first lesson.</p><p>"Rue," Katniss rose, catching the girl's attention. Rue looked over, two large pales in her hands. "I've never heard of anyone with the family name Abell in Panem."</p><p>Rue nodded, dark little ringlets bouncing atop her head. "I'm not from Panem. I'm from a village in the southern kingdom."</p><p>Katniss's eyes widened from the revelation. The King didn't take prisoners from other kingdoms. Katniss remembered the stories that circled around the market of the King, beheading anyone in his path during the war. "But... how?"</p><p>"My village was destroyed by a band of marauders. I was the only survivor." Rue looked down at the floor, a faraway look masking her youthful features.</p><p>Katniss ran a hand through her loose braid, feeling remorseful for her friend. "I'm sorry Rue, I shouldn't have asked."</p><p>Rue shook her head. "It's okay. He could have left me to die, killed me, yet he saved me." She looked over at Katniss and offered her a kind smile. "Goodnight, Katniss." Then Rue gathered her things and retreated from the room.</p><p>After her conversation with Rue, Katniss reflected on the recent information provided to her, and she concluded that the King held many secrets that she wasn't sure she wanted to meddle in.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In this chapter, you'll see flickers of Peeta's POV, but it'll mostly be in Katniss's. Also, in my story, Peeta's mom is good, stern, but good. I'd also like to reiterate that Peeta is in fact a cruel King, and I didn't take the term lightly in writing this story. And if you haven't noticed yet, I changed the number of chapters from two to undetermined, because I've recently thought of so many ideas for this story that I can't do in two chapters:)</p><p>Thank you everyone for the comments, kudos, and continued interest in this story! It's one of the hardest stories that I've written, so thank you for being patient after all of this time. I'd also like to thank <a href="https://mandelion82.tumblr.com/">Mandelion82</a> and <a href="https://mrspeetamellark.tumblr.com/">Mrspeetamellark</a> on Tumblr for helping me with this story, much love to both of you. I hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>                                                                                 </p><p> </p><p>Katniss sat in the too-soft chair in front of the vanity, running her fingers through her knotted hair. She'd neglected it for days, unbothered by her appearance. As she gazed at her reflection in the spotted mirror, she regarded the now short, silvery scar at the top of her cheek—an eerie reminder of her precarious position that taunted her through her reflection…</p><p>She'd often think of her and Rue's conversation about the King, despite trying to lock thoughts of him out of her mind. However, her emotions roiled inside her, confusing her and conflicting with the new image of the King that Rue had unintentionally put there.</p><p>He was cruel. He'd brought nations to their knees, begging for mercy. He'd killed many, honorably or not; mass amounts of blood stained his hands. His sparing of Rue almost seemed too good to be true.</p><p>In her dreams, she'd watch him burn cities. Destroy armies. Dangerous and unyielding. Then he'd hold her, quieting her concerns. He was gentle, making promises against her skin, masking his savagery behind that of a lover. She fought him until she woke up—heart racing, sweat coating her brow. Sometimes she'd wake to a dull ache between her thighs, the memory of his soft caresses lingering behind closed eyelids.</p><p>Night after night, he slipped into her dreams—always persistent. She hated him for it. Not even her mind was safe from his control.</p><p>Then she wondered about his absence. She didn't allow herself to think about it too long, but part of her grew curious as the days dragged on. The chambermaids usually spoke little of the King's whereabouts when they came into the room every morning. Although, she assumed it was probably another annoyingly unspoken rule set aside for her.</p><p>Katniss sighed.</p><p>She needed sleep before she gave herself a headache. Tying off her braid with a worn strip of leather, she walked over to the couch where she lay watching the fire until she fell asleep, where the King greeted her in her dreams.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>She woke in the night to sounds of cheering and laughter. Katniss blinked against the darkness of the room, the only light coming from the hearth where the fire slowly died. When she heard the noise again coming from the other side of the chamber doors, she stood and walked toward them, hesitating. Her hand hovered over the door handle for a moment before she pressed her ear to the wood and listened.</p><p>Normally, she could hear the guards' faint chatter from the other side and the clinking of their armor, but all she heard was the distant sound of people—lots of people. Although, none of them were close enough to make out what they were actually saying. And she suddenly came to the realization that she was finally alone. Perhaps, not entirely. Still, she could cough without the guards eavesdropping.</p><p>It was an odd feeling knowing that no one was listening to her every move, and she heaved a small sigh in relief... Except, part of her was still curious. She wanted to know what drew the guards' attention away from watching the room after they'd spent two weeks devotedly attending the door during the King's absence.</p><p>They never left the door. Even when the guards would go through rotations, someone was always watching the room.</p><p>Katniss took a deep breath, gripping the handle again with more determination.</p><p>She stood there for a few more minutes, her hesitation and confidence battling with each other, then she gave it a tug and was surprised to find it unlocked... Part of her wondered if it'd been unlocked this entire time to test if she'd actually try escaping. If she did, then there would be nothing stopping them from putting her head on the next chopping block. The irony that none of them were here to watch their plans come to fruition made her snort quietly to herself.</p><p>Her heart pounded in her ears as she pulled the door open wide enough for her to slip through, the taste of freedom bitter on her tongue because she knew it was barely a victory. She was simply stepping from one refined small cage to a larger one where more than her thoughts and books were at her disposal.</p><p>Laughter echoed down the hall again, and it reminded Katniss of her curiosity once more.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, she walked down the hall, staying close to the wall as she followed the sounds of the voices and music.</p><p>The hall was relatively empty, aside from a couple leaning into each other in a small alcove, hushed whispers hissing between them. She stopped at first, but they didn't see her, the dark reds of her nightdress blending in with the shadows. She crept past them, trying not to make any sudden movements that would give her away.</p><p>Voices gradually grew louder as she reached a long set of drapes. And when she opened them enough to peek through, she found it was a balcony leading into the great hall. She could hear the beautiful melody of a lute traveling up the stone pillars, and she pulled back the heavy curtains to slip through and peer over the ledge of the stone railing.</p><p>Down below, there was so much happening that she didn't know where to look first. No one in Panem had ever talked about the castle's parties, partially because the King was not known for hosting such gatherings.</p><p>She noticed several nobles dressed in fancy gowns and long suit jackets, flurries of colors blending together as they danced to the music. Shimmery banners hung from the banisters, glittering in the warm light of the candles in the room. Platters of food lined the four long tables pushed to either side of the room... She wondered if all the parties were like this one.</p><p>Again, she thought of Prim and how much she'd love to see such a sight. Her little sister had always been fascinated with the higher lives of nobles and royalty. Katniss never saw the appeal in such things. But what she saw now, she had to admit that it did not compare to the few parties she'd attended at the square. Most of those were weddings, short and sweet affairs that had little time for music or dancing.</p><p>Looking down at men twirling their women across the floor (if circumstances were different), she wondered what it'd be like to dance like that...</p><p>Shaking her head, Katniss continued glancing around the room. She recognized a few of the chambermaids tending guests, except they weren't dressed in servants' clothes—well, it didn't look like something a servant would wear. Instead, they wore beautiful shades of blues with silver gilded masks obscuring their faces. A thought switched in her brain when she saw some nobles suggestively grabbing their waists, toying with the servants' frilly outfits as they walked by. The servants were there for more than only serving food and wine; they were part of the entertainment, and the idea made Katniss feel sick to her stomach.</p><p>Her eyes shifted over one servant to the other, then she released a breath of relief when she found Rue wasn't among them.</p><p>A flash of blond suddenly caught her eye, and Katniss looked toward the front of the room where she found the King. His dark, shiny armor was a stark contrast from the soft, colorful fabrics of his guests. Those gathered around him talked amongst themselves, smiles on their faces, celebrating his arrival while he remained impassive.</p><p>He almost seemed bored by the festivities, ignoring the advances of a few noblewomen who approached him. She'd look away when it happened, feeling odd about watching these women willingly throw themselves at someone so dangerous. Although, she tried to remind herself that it was a game that the upper-class played for power. Still, the idea that they knew who he was, yet they pursued him anyway, unsettled her.</p><p>When she looked back the third time, warier about what she'd find, it startled her to see the King's piercing gaze staring back at her.</p><p>Katniss's stomach dropped, body frozen.</p><p>The woman at his side didn't seem to notice he wasn't paying attention, and then his mouth slowly curled in the corner. But it wasn't the type of smile that made you feel warm. No, it was the smile of a wolf that just discovered a sheep had walked right into his den. The woman stopped talking to give the King a confused smile.</p><p>Katniss stumbled away from the railing, her hand clutched to her chest where her heart raced dangerously. Her brain was telling her to move, but her legs felt glued to the floor. Then she heard voices traveling up the pillars.</p><p>"Where is his majesty going—"</p><p>"His majesty just up and left—"</p><p>"He's probably going to deal with that street wench inhabiting his chambers," another whispered.</p><p>Right.</p><p>Quickly, she pulled back the curtains and ran for it. She didn't know where she was going, but she continued moving, her bare feet slapping against the cold stone floor. In her haste, she turned down the wrong hallway that looked nothing like the King's side of the castle, and her pace slowed as she frantically glanced around.</p><p>Where did she go from here? Maybe if she went right...?</p><p>Dread filled her as she concluded her only option. She had to go back the way she came.</p><p>Hushed voices sounded from the end of the hall, and Katniss turned to hide in a small alcove. She held her breath as two figures moved into her view, sounds of lips smacking and feminine gasps filling her ears.</p><p>They walked past a sconce on the wall, the light revealing a guard and the redheaded chambermaid that tended the King's room. She let out an audible surprised gasp and quickly covered her mouth when their heads turned at the sound. Katniss pushed further into the wall as they walked closer, fearing they'd catch the glint of her wide eyes in the dim candlelight.</p><p>But they stopped.</p><p>"Someone's coming," the guard said. "Come on, there's an empty room over here." Then, he grabbed the auburn-haired woman's hand and opened the door next to the alcove.</p><p>When the door closed, Katniss stayed in her hiding spot as she waited for the newcomer to reveal themselves. At first, she thought it was the King, that somehow he'd known she'd gotten lost and found herself pressed against the shadows while trying to avoid party dwellers.</p><p>But a flash of silver revealed another guard on patrol. She stayed still, her clammy feet slipping against the stones as she pressed back against the wall. <em> Just a little longer </em>, she told herself. However, there was the distinct sound of a coin dropping against the floor from the room next door, and for some reason, it turned the guard's eyes on her.</p><p>Her luck couldn't get any worse as she stared back at the guard with the pale eyes.</p><p>He grabbed her wrist, pulling it above her head, so it forced her to move closer and out of the shadows.</p><p>She clawed at his hand as she felt pinpricks in her fingers for how tightly he was holding her. "Let go of me!"</p><p>"Well, if it isn't the King's whore," he slurred, his pale eyes traveling down from her exposed shoulders to her legs. The smell of ale wafted off him from where she stood, making her reel back in disgust. He jerked her closer, his other hand coming up to tug on the ties that kept the front of her nightdress closed.</p><p>Katniss jerked away, again. "You filthy bastard! I said let go of me!"</p><p>He came up and roughly gripped her chin. "Nobody ever said that the King's whore would have such a foul mouth." She spit in his face, then a hand landed against her left cheek. It was hard enough to make her see double. "You're a feisty bitch, aren't you?" he growled at her.</p><p>"That's enough," said the deep voice of the King from behind them. It sounded foreign to her ears after the few weeks of its absence, causing both a chill down her spine and an odd flush of warmth to flare low in her abdomen.</p><p>The guard turned, twisting her wrist uncomfortably to look over at the King's towering form.</p><p>Even though he had been the one she was running from, something akin to relief soothed in her chest, and she slightly hated herself for it. Better to be with a monster you know than a monster you don't, she reasoned.</p><p>"But, your majesty, the prisoner has escaped." She flinched with a whimper when he pulled on her arm, and the King's eyes snapped towards hers. "I caught her trying to flee. She needs to be punished—"</p><p>"I said that's enough." Silence surrounded them at the finality in his tone. Even the sounds from the couple had suddenly ceased.</p><p>The guard dropped her wrist only for it to be snatched by the King's stiff grip before he tugged her back in the direction she came. She was nearly tripping over her feet as she tried to keep up with his long strides, and she had half a mind to tell him to slow down. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and focused on trying not to lose her arm for how insistently he was yanking on it.</p><p>People littered in the hallways cleared, scuttling away as soon as they recognized the King coming toward them. It slightly alarmed her that all they noticed was a stony-faced King when she could feel his pent up rage in the fingers wrapped around her wrist.</p><p>As the doors of his chamber slammed shut behind them, he rounded on her and hissed at her wildly, teeth bared as his control crumbled. "How did you get out?"</p><p>"The door was unlocked; I-" she explained defensively but stopped. This was his game, and she didn't want to play anymore. "You wanted me to escape, didn't you? And if you wanted to use that as your excuse for killing me, why not kill me from the start?"</p><p>If he was angry before, he was furious now, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he glared at her. "I suggest you stay in this room, or next time you won't have me to save you," the King snarled, then he left the room.</p><p>When the door shuttered behind him, it left her with the sensation of being alone again. Except for this time, it felt hollow.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>He tightened his grip on the whip in his fist, rolling out the tension in his shoulders before raising his hand, and then the sound of leather against flesh graced his ears.</p><p>It didn't matter how many times he did this, flickers of unwanted memories would flash before his eyes. He was fifteen again, tied to a post in a private courtyard while his grandfather used him as an example for his father's slip of the tongue. This was only twenty-five lashes, where Peeta's back was barely spared at forty.</p><p>
  <em> Five. </em>
</p><p>The scars marred deep in his shoulder blades tightened when he'd raise his hand, then release as the whip landed against the guard's back. <em> Ten. </em> He felt the darkness prickling at the corners of his mind, fueling another blow that broke skin this time and he watched as the guard slumped against the post.</p><p>
  <em> Fifteen. </em>
</p><p>He could feel her icy gaze piercing into the back of his skull from his balcony window, chastising him for things she didn't understand. She'd never grasp what it feels like to have an entire kingdom looking down on you, picking apart your every move and assuming the next... It had surprised him when she ran in front of his whip to protect one of his highest-ranking officers from receiving his punishment. He later determined that you'd only do something like that for someone you cared about (a friend, he'd assumed), and Peeta didn't know that feeling.</p><p>
  <em> Twenty. </em>
</p><p>There was no one that he cared about.</p><p>
  <em> Twenty-one. </em>
</p><p>In a sense, he felt he was doing this for her, not only because the guard had questioned his orders. She should want to see this man suffer for what he attempted to do to her. He gritted his teeth as he thought about how the front of her dress hung low when he found them, revealing a sliver of skin between the valley of her breasts. A red smear rapidly spreading on the top of her cheek as a welt formed from being slapped. It reminded him of his father when he'd grow a little too rough with his mother—sometimes in front of him, even worse behind closed doors... This time, the whip came down a little harder than the last, the snap ringing in his ears.</p><p>
  <em> Twenty-three. </em>
</p><p>Somehow, the mistress had wormed her way into his thoughts, finding a spot and rooting herself there with her infuriating scowl. She was so unlike the other women he'd been with, all fire and no smoke.</p><p>
  <em> Twenty-five. </em>
</p><p>The guard quivered on the wooden planks, the muscles in his back jerking violently as a river of red trailed down his pale skin. Peeta handed the whip to the nearest officer while wiping splatters of blood from his face. "Escort him to the fields," he commanded, then he stepped down from the platform.</p><p>He released a heavy sigh through his nose when his advisor came up to him, hands casually clasped behind his back. "Your majesty, it seems like there's something on your mind. Would you care to share?"</p><p>"No." He chose not to elaborate; instead, he stalked past him and back into the castle to train in his private courtyard. His Knights were already there, sparring without weapons. The statue of his grandfather loomed over him like a disappointed shadow as he moved to spar with the next Knight.</p><p>He trained until sweat dripped from his hair, blood trickled down his knuckles, and a bluish bruise colored his ribs—the darkness quietly hummed, thoroughly satisfied, before receding into something distant.</p><p>When he returned to his quarters, he found the mistress curled up in a chair near the balcony, her nose deep in a book. She was wearing something thin and gauzy today, the afternoon light catching through the creamy material to show off long, lean olive legs. It was an odd sight, and it stopped him momentarily by the implied domesticity of it all.</p><p>It was all he could do to stand and watch her until the unfamiliar tightness in his chest passed. But the mistress grew uneasy under his stare and stiffened defensively.</p><p>"What?" she snapped when he didn't look away, and he stood there a moment longer to figure out where all of her bravery was coming from...</p><p>He decided he'd dwell on that later, ignoring her as he turned toward the breakfast platter to observe that she hadn't touched any of the food yet. Although, from the steady stream of steam coming off of the porridge, he assumed it'd only just arrived moments before he did.</p><p>She watched him as he grabbed their breakfast and carried it to his chair in front of the hearth. He placed it on the small table off to the side and began arranging the items. "Finished tormenting people for the day?" she quipped, breaking the string of silence between them.</p><p>His mouth twitched with the presence of a smile—<em> almost </em>a smile—and then he sat down. "Hardly. Come here." Her eyes narrowed, but she stood up and moved toward him, anyway. Once she was in front of him, he nodded toward his leg. "Sit."</p><p>Color bloomed in her face, a flash of fire burning in her gray eyes. "What—I... No."</p><p>He felt his control wavering, and he steadied it with a deep breath. "If you want to eat, then sit."</p><p>"I'm not sitting in your lap to eat! I'd rather go hungry!" she hissed.</p><p>Peeta took another deep breath. "Okay." He shrugged, grabbing an apple and slicing it into spears.</p><p>He slipped a bit of the fruit into his mouth, chewing slowly while the mistress clenched her fists at her sides. "Did you just invite me over here to eat in front of me?"</p><p>"You are welcome to join me."</p><p>Peeta expected her to storm back to her chair in front of the balcony, but then her stomach gave an audible growl, and her face reddened with defeat. She grudgingly perched on his knee to eat, not saying anything as she reached for one of the apple slices.</p><p>They sat quietly, Peeta cutting more spears while the mistress grabbed them as they fell onto the platter. He could feel that tightening in his chest returning; it was a duller ache this time, but still there, fluttering in a small uninhabited space in his blackened heart.</p><p>He pushed it away, though, and placed the next apple spear into the mistress's waiting palm.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>A week goes by, faster now that the King has returned.</p><p>"That spoon is for desserts, not soup." Rue grabbed a circular-looking spoon from the tray, holding it out in front of her. "You'll use this one instead."</p><p>After the chambermaids left that morning, she and Rue started an early lesson. Except for this time, it involved fine cutlery from her breakfast plate. Rue had a considerable amount of knowledge about small forks and oddly shaped knives. It almost made Katniss wonder if the young girl was once a noble before her village had burned amid the war.</p><p>Katniss sighed, snatching the spoon from her. "You realize that I will never need to know this stuff again in my lifetime? To teach me is almost futile." Rue's mouth turned up into a contagious smile that spread onto her own face. "You find this funny, don't you?" Rue shook her head, her smile spreading, then she continued writing words on a scrap of parchment in front of her.</p><p>However, echoes of commotion coming from the courtyard stopped them, Rue's quill dropping from her hand. They scrambled to pick up their mess before walking out onto the balcony to find a crowd surrounding an intricate carriage, making enough room for the King who stood in the center.</p><p>A King's guard pulled open the gilded door, stepping aside while the flash of a red gown caught the light of the summer sun. The material gave off an expensive sheen, shimmering as she moved. Then another figure emerged from the carriage. Blonde hair sat in a pile on her head, the style appearing sophisticated even from a distance.</p><p>The crowd's chatter grew upon sight of the unexpected visitor, but nothing loud enough for her to make out. Then the King held out his arm for her, and sounds of adoration traveled up the walls.</p><p>"I should take those dishes down to the kitchen," Rue muttered beside her, leaving Katniss to watch the pair disappear behind the castle doors.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>His two weeks in the Southern kingdom had given him a headache, and he could feel another as he watched their princess move around his study. She hadn't noticed him yet, though it was clear that she wasn't idly waiting for him as she nosed through a few of his books.</p><p>"If you're done getting acquainted with my things, I'd like to know why you're here."</p><p>The Princess jumped, squeaking as she turned around to look at him with wide eyes. "Peeta—"</p><p>"I don't go by that name anymore."</p><p>She gave an airy laugh. "We were friends once; surely old friends can call each other by their first names."</p><p>He leaned against the bookcase, already feeling bored by the conversation. "We fucked." She winced at the crudity of the word, and the darkness stirred, humming cruelly by the sight. "That doesn’t make us friends, and you will address me as a King, Princess. I will not ask again."</p><p>Princess Snow stared wide-eyed and then bobbed her head. "Yes... Your majesty," she said, clearing her throat softly as she ran her hands down the front of her dress to compose herself. "I have come here to listen to your decision on our arrangement. If you choose to accept, then we can put an end to this silly war."</p><p>Peeta didn't take the bait. There'd always be a war as long as that old bastard couldn't control all kingdoms with an iron fist.</p><p>"And if I decline?"</p><p>"What is marriage going to hurt?" she asked, slightly hopeful.</p><p>"I doubt King Snow saw anything innocent coming out of a marriage."</p><p>She peeked up at him shyly from underneath her lashes. "Perhaps an heir to unite our two kingdoms?" He didn't answer. Children and marriage were never part of the peace treaty he'd offered, nor did he have any interest in the matter. Mistaking his quiet refusal for hesitance, the Princess proceeded to give him a pretty smile and walked toward him. "Well, no need to answer yet, your majesty. I'll give you a week to consider. For now, I'd love to go on a tour." Then she rested her hand in the crook of his elbow and urged him toward the door.</p><p>He would've said no, had his advisor not walked in and insisted on joining them.</p><p>"We have the most beautiful gardens..."</p><p>Rubbing his temple to stave off the migraine forming, he trailed in front of them to avoid any conversation for the rest of the tour.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Chambermaids had rushed into the room before dinner, dressing her in a coral gown. A question stirred while the older chambermaid tied a dark green ribbon through the front of her bodice. She bit her lip, contemplating until the urge to know became too great.</p><p>"Who is that woman from the courtyard?" she asked.</p><p>The chambermaid hesitated, looking up at her, then continued lacing the ribbon. "<em> Och </em>, she's a friend of the King, but you have nothin' to worry about." It was a private affair, then—yet another thing mistresses weren't allowed to question.</p><p>She had a sense of why the woman was here, her presence at the King's side giving away her role in the matter. "He's going to marry her, isn't he?"</p><p>Katniss wasn't sure why she asked, surprising the chambermaid as well with her inquiries as she raised her eyebrows at Katniss. It was not like she liked the King; he practically set her teeth on edge, and the last thing he deserved was her concern for his personal life.</p><p>But she couldn't stop herself from being curious, right?</p><p>"Aye, well, a potential suitress. But no matter, Princess Snow is said to be a fine lass. She'll do right by the King." The chambermaid's failure to explain further slightly annoyed her. Although, she tried to remind herself that the more she knew, the more attachment she'd hold to this place. Not that Katniss thought she'd hold any attachment at all when she left—<em> if </em> she left.</p><p>They were sticking pins in her hair when the guards came into the room to retrieve her. She shook off their grasps, biting out that she could walk herself. Neither tried grabbing her again, but they kept a close distance as they escorted her through the halls. At the great hall, they took their post near the door. But she wasn't free for long before a servant came up to her. More polite than the guards, he touched her elbow and led her into the room.</p><p>The King's chair sat empty, his advisor being the only presence at the head of the table. He acknowledged her with a faint nod, appearing unbothered by her attendance tonight. It shocked her momentarily until she noticed the brass goblet in his hand.</p><p>Oddly, she wasn't led to a chair near the King's like last time. Instead, the servant pulled open a chair next to two nobles—a stout woman with peppered hair and a balding man, who Katniss assumed was the woman's husband. They peered at her with an air of shrewd evaluation, their eyes roaming to her belly. Apparently, her weeks locked away in the King's chamber hadn't gone unnoticed. At that moment, though, that wasn't what bothered her. She felt more uncomfortable by the fact that she was sitting with a bunch of nobles who thought her inferior to their circle.</p><p>A servant offered her some wine, allowing her a much-needed distraction from the couple beside her. She stopped herself from looking down at her lap and looked up at a portrait of the King's mother, Queen Florence.</p><p>Katniss had been too young to remember the Queen, but by the look of her thin-lipped mouth, she assumed that the King and his mother were the same. For some reason, Katniss snorted at the thought of a young King being reprimanded by his stern mother.</p><p>"Oh, finally, someone with a bit of humor in this place." She jumped at the loud voice and the sound of an empty seat being pulled out beside hers. Then a woman with dark, cropped hair wearing pants and light leather armor sat down.</p><p>"Excuse me?" Katniss asked, finally finding her voice.</p><p>The woman raised her goblet to the servant and glanced toward Katniss. "I was stuck beside some thin-nosed prick who couldn't take a joke when I said the number of feathers in his hat made it look like he was wearing a bird's arse on his head." At this, a man shouted at the woman from down the table, and Katniss hid the smile that followed into her goblet.</p><p>The woman ignored him, a crooked smirk tightening her lips as she bowed her head toward Katniss. "Johanna Mason. Chaperone for Princess Madge Snow. And…" She looked Katniss up and down with a hint of curiosity. "You are?"</p><p>Katniss glanced around her, noticing the couple lean in with interest. "The mistress," she answered.</p><p>Expecting Johanna to turn her nose up at her, it surprised her when the woman released an unladylike snort instead. "And I thought I was the one with the unfortunate title." She took a sip of her wine, the liquid staining her lips red when she brought the goblet back to the table. "So, what did you think was so funny before I rudely interrupted?"</p><p>Her eyes widened. "Well...I..."</p><p>It almost sounded bizarre to explain that she'd been thinking about the King and his mother and somehow found joy from the thought.</p><p>Thankfully, she was saved from explaining this when another servant announced the arrival of the King. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and rose from their seats to greet the King and his guest. Katniss followed suit, eyes trained on the front of the room where he appeared through a pointed archway, Princess Snow at his side in a sunflower yellow gown.</p><p>Katniss stared with interest at the woman who took her seat beside the King. Like the other noblewomen, her fair skin showed few imperfections. She also appeared quite bosomy, surely from being well-fed since birth. She was pretty, Katniss conceded, and with those bright smiles, she seemed to fit perfectly at the King's side.</p><p>Strangely, she found that it bothered her. And more so, when the King had yet to recognize her presence in the room.</p><p>When they could sit down again, she aggressively scooped some glazed greens and herring onto her plate, then ate in stewed silence until she was ready to leave. At first, she expected the King to protest once she stood up and met the guards at the door. But he said nothing and still didn't look her way.</p><p>Back in the King's chamber, she tried to make sense of the day's events, but sleep shrouded her mind. For the first time since the King left, she readily climbed into the giant bed and slipped under the covers before falling asleep to the sound of logs crackling in the hearth.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There were light touches against her shoulder, her hip, and then—oh, <em>there, </em>and her hips canted at the unexpected feeling of it.</p><p>Her eyes fluttered open, and she glimpsed down to find her thin, linen night rail pushed up to her navel and a blond, curly head peeking out between her parted thighs. A surprised gasp escaped her, and she pushed up on her elbows, ready to shove the head away.</p><p>The King glanced up then, heat swirling in those blue pools as he focused his gaze on her. His usually tamed spirals were a tangled mess against his slick forehead, and she faintly wondered why. Without shifting his eyes away from hers, she watched as his mouth created a fiery trail against the inside of her left knee, leaving no amount of skin unexplored. They'd never done this up to now, and Katniss's entire body tensed at the notion. Her insecurities grew as he moved close—<em> so close </em>—to the heat at the apex of her thighs.</p><p>By the time his breath fanned across her folds, her heart was beating in her ears, and a deep moan clawed its way from her throat—the sound of it nearly humiliating to her ears. But he didn't linger, and he purposefully passed over where she suddenly wanted him most to give her other thigh equal attention.</p><p>A protest on her tongue was quick to follow, and his mouth twitched.</p><p>Her head was quickly swimming with anticipation, every other thought evaporating into thin air. All she could think about was his touch against her skin—ticklish and soft in his exploration. A quiet sigh pushed past her lips when his teeth grazed a sensitive spot under her knee, while his thumbs insistently made slow, soothing circles into her sides. Both movements induced a ripple low in her stomach.</p><p>When he finally traveled back to her center, she was a trembling mess in his hands. And at the feel of his moist breath fanning over her, she moaned, her head falling back as she tightly closed her eyes. This resulted in him stopping his teasing touches on her body, and her head snapped up to glare down at him, slightly resenting the control he had over her. Her glare deepened when she noticed the slight jerk at the corner of his mouth. Then he placed a chaste kiss against her hip, and her eyes fluttered closed.</p><p>But he stopped, pulling away from her again. "Watch me," he said, his voice deep and vibrating. She complied, only to make him continue nuzzling her with his mouth. "I want you to watch me while I taste you." The air in her lungs came out in one shaky exhale, his words leaving her light-headed.</p><p>He lowered his mouth back down to her folds, his breath teasing the heated flesh there. She moaned as his tongue swiped over the bundle of nerves between her thighs. He did it once. Twice. Each pass brought out soft gasps, burning a small trail of fire where his mouth licked and prodded.</p><p>His lips finally captured the sensitive little bundle, and her eyes snapped shut. This resulted in him stopping his ministrations, aside from the lazy circular pattern his thumbs continued to rub into her thighs. She gave an annoyed groan, looking down at him once more.</p><p>"You're a monster," she ground out.</p><p>He trailed his nose along the inner part of her thigh, rewarding her with a nip against her hip when her breath hitched. "And yet, you still want me," he told her quietly, then he brought his mouth back to her clit, and—</p><p>Oh.</p><p>
  <em> Oh. </em>
</p><p>When he finally brought her there, she stopped breathing, unable to tear her gaze away from his dark blue eyes as equal measures of relief and pleasure rolled through her abdomen. And then, as her arms shook and her thighs twitched against his ears from the aftershocks, she fell back against the sheets with a sigh.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
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